More docs ideas?

[Paul W. Frields]

On Mon, 2004-08-23 at 14:23, Karsten Wade wrote:
> > > (Top posting because I'm basically forwarding.)
> > > 
> > > There's another docs idea toward the bottom of this post. Unfortunately,
> > > recent changes in the kernel building schema for FC2 and FC3test* have
> > > started some flamewars, mostly (methinks) because of misunderstanding.
> > > (C'est la vie.) But it does argue for some quick docs work. There is a
> > > link below to a write-up that Arjan van de Ven did for FedoraNews.org
> > > not too long ago. I'm sticking it in the archives for reference.
> > > 
> > > Again, if no one has a quibble, I'll Bugzilla this.
> > 
> > This is a super-important document that we could produce fairly quickly
> > - Fedora Kernel Short Guide to Changes, or something.
> 
> It's so funny how seeing your own email in a thread can make something
> clearer ...
> 
> As important as this issue is, does it fit into the focus of the Fedora
> docs project?  It is actually just the kind of thing that FedoraNEWS.org
> was created for.
> 
> OTOH, it is good background about changes in the kernel packages, and
> may be most of a tutorial on How To Do Funky Things to Your Kernel, aka,
> You Break It, You Keep It.

I think it works as a short tutorial, maybe "Kernel Compilation for
&FC;." It would be good to have on the &FDPDOCS-URL; site because many,
*many* users do not follow fedora-devel-list (including a lot of those
who read fedora-list). If we have a short tutorial there, it will stave
off many repetitive threads on fedora-list and eliminate user
misunderstandings or confusion. I believe it definitely falls into our
charter.

My idea of the outcome would be a document that simply states the steps
used in &FC; 1 and 2 (old way), and then for &FC; 3 and (hopefully)
beyond. Additional sections could be added for later revisions of the
process without too much of a hassle.

> Short term best might be a more formal FedoraNEWS.org article, and
> longer term best might be to include these changes in a short tutorial
> for FC3.  Other ideas?

I think you've the right idea, but after all &FDPDOCS-URL; is  straight
from the horse's mouth, so to speak. I don't believe we need to scoop
anyone, but by the same token, ignoring all the low-hanging fruit simply
means our arms get tired faster. (I am the Master of Metaphor Mixture!
Bow before my compositional ineptitude!) 

Ahem. In any case, being able to point users to this document is a nice
way also to advertise that our project is indeed alive, well, kicking,
and productive. Yet, it's not simply busy work. I think users will
really benefit from this guide, maybe more than other more fundamental
docs, since there are so many Fedora users out there who, for better or
worse, make kernel compilation one of the first things they do "out of
the box."

Best of all, this document could be easily snipped to fit into a larger
reference manual later, so we're getting some addition ROI there.

> - Karsten
> > If one or more people have the time to tackle this, I recommend we
> > approach Arjan with something like, "Fedora docs project would like to
> > assign this writer to work with you on getting this new kernel document
> > written.  We've started with what you did for FedoraNEWS.org, put it
> > into our template, and are ready to work on it further."
> > 
> > If anyone can reliably tackle this, it requires existing knowledge of
> > the history of kernel and kernel-source, as well as the time to get
> > familiar with the current discussion.  I'll be happy to handle the
> > introduction to Arjan.
[...snip...]

Agreed for this part. I wish I had the time to do this myself, but I
don't, so is there someone on the list who is interested, before we
Bugzilla this? 

-- 
Paul W. Frields, RHCE